Filner jacked up about Jack

Mayor accuses restaurant of misleading city on North Park project

Jack In the Box, famous for its secret sauce, found itself in hot water Friday as Mayor Bob Filner moved to stop work on a restaurant remodel in North Park.

The 62-year-old restaurant at 30th and Upas streets is being rebuilt with its drive-through lane remaining. Filner said that violates the North Park planning and zoning rules against drive-throughs as a way to reduce car dependence and promote walkability.

The Jack In the Box restaurant is being rebuilt at 30th and Upas streets in North Park. Completion is expected in August.— Carolyne Corelis

The Jack In the Box restaurant is being rebuilt at 30th and Upas streets in North Park. Completion is expected in August.
— Carolyne Corelis

"It is outrageous to me that Jack In the Box has completely misled the North Park community about this project," said Filner, citing a company letter saying the exterior walls would not be removed. "In fact, nearly all of the exterior walls were destroyed."

At Filner's direction, Tom Tomlinson, the city's interim head of development services, asked City Attorney Jan Goldsmith to investigate the matter and see if construction, begun last month, can be halted while issues get resolved.

Goldsmith's office said it would look into the matter but did not say how long it will take to answer Tomlinson's questions.

A company official informed North Park leaders in a May 31 letter that the restaurant closed May 28 and 10 weeks of construction would commence the following week. The building appears on schedule to open in August.

Brian Luscomb, Jack In the Box's spokesman, said Filner's characterization of the company's intentions is "not a true statement at all." The city issued a building permit, he said, and the project is listed at a value of $216,422.

"We've been very upfront with them and shared the elevations and a rendering of the restaurant," Luscomb said, referring to neighborhood residents and groups.

Neighborhood leaders tell a different story.

Robert Barry, chairman of the North Park Planning Committee's urban design and project review subcommittee, said when the Planning Commission unanimously rejected a complete rebuilding of the restaurant last year at the community's urging, the company submitted a remodel plan to the Development Services Department. That plan did not require community or commission review but is resulting in the same thing -- a restaurant with a drive-through that is no longer allowed in that part of North Park.

"I am grateful that the mayor is so responsive to the concerns of neighbors and the community," Barry said.

Rick Pyles, who has lived three houses away from the restaurant for 15 years says the fast-food eatery's 2:30 a.m. closing time, late night and early morning maintenance and supply calls, and constant traffic and noise represent an unwelcome nuisance.

"They just are not very good neighbors," he said.

An earlier zoning change adopted more than a decade ago banned drive-throughs in that part of North Park, and Pyles said he and other neighbors hoped the restaurant's reconstruction would eliminate their concerns.

Jack In the Box says most customers come by car and a drive-through is a key convenience incorporated into most of its restaurants.

The larger issue involves confusion in the city building code over what constitutes new construction -- which triggers conformance with current building codes and zoning -- and remodeling, which generally lets nonconforming uses continue.